Charter schools are the newest approach designed to put flexibility into the system.
Since Minnesota enacted the first charter school law in 1991, other
states
have approved a version of the idea. California passed the
legislation in
1992; Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Wisconsin did
so
in 1993; and Michigan, Kansas, and Hawaii passed legislation in 1994.
(Missouri passed legislation allowing three pilots, but because of
their
pilot status, Missouri is not counted here.)
As of July 1994, at least 96 individual
charter schools had been
approved in six of these states (ECS Information Clearinghouse, June
1994,
draft). Generally, the laws permit local school boards to approve a
charter (i.e., a contract) for a local school. Most states require
that 50
percent of the teachers within a building approve the idea, and often
the
charter must be approved by 10 percent of teachers within the whole
district. Most states ask that the school be nonsectarian and that it
not
discriminate in admissions or employment. Colorado specifies that
home
schools are not eligible. Since the charter school is designed to
encourage a wide range of ideas, very few additional rules are
mandated.
Teachers are usually allowed to retain tenure or employment rights in
their home district, but evaluation of the instructional program is
open
to design by the charter school applicants.
Charter schools run independently of local school districts and are
designed to exist outside of most rules and regulations. A charter is
essentially a contract, negotiated between those starting the school
and
the official body in the state empowered to approve the charter. This
contract spells out how the school will be run, what will be taught,
how
success will be measured, and what outcomes will be achieved by the
students attending the school. As long as the school meets the terms
of
its charter, it is free from many of the rules and regulations under
which
most schools must operate. (Note that some cities - Philadelphia and
New
York, for example - have called their magnet schools charters. The
focus
of this discussion is not on magnet schools, but on state-empowered
programs.)
A charter is written by a team of individuals interested in
establishing
the new school. Charters have been granted to parents, teachers, and
community organizations. The entity that approves a charter varies
from
state to state. In some states, the state superintendent approves
charters; in other states, the local school board approves charters;
and
in still other states, such as Michigan, many institutions can
approve
charters, including institutions of higher education. The school then
receives per-pupil funding at or near the level of funding a student
in
that district would have received in a traditional school. Charter
schools:
Questions to Consider
Policymakers or those writing charters should consider the following
questions:
Charter schools can generate broad political backing. In some states,
they
have been approved after voucher initiatives failed - appearing to
operate
as a compromise that strengthens people's choices among schools,
while
ensuring that resources and students go to public schools. Charter
schools
effectively empower teachers and parents who are not satisfied with
current schools for a variety of reasons.
Charter schools also are intended to encourage innovation and
experimentation in education systems that need competition to drive
wider
reform; however, preliminary data on the types of schools approved
suggests that the bold innovations that were expected generally have
not
materialized.
See also NCREL's Policy Briefs "Charter Schools Update." or
"Charter Schools: A New Breed of Public Schools."
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